The Insider: Investors Edition - Quarter 3: 2026
This quarterly edition of The Insider from Venture Partners at CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï delivers upcoming investment opportunities, networking events and top headlines for startup investors.
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Featured News
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï and Techstars announce partnership to accelerate Colorado’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï and Techstars, the global startup accelerator and investor, have announced a strategic partnership to expand opportunities for founders and strengthen Colorado’s innovation economy.
A powerhouse in battery breakthroughs
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï has emerged as a leading hub for battery innovation, producing breakthrough research and a series of successful startups—including Solid Power, SiILion, Otoro Energy, Forge Nano and Mana Battery—that are advancing safer, cheaper and more effective energy storage technologies. The university’s unique combination of world-class researchers, entrepreneurial support and industry partnerships has helped transform laboratory discoveries into companies with significant economic and societal impact.
University Startups in the News
Infleqtion secures three Genesis Mission projects from U.S. Department of Energy
Infleqtion, Quantum Insider, BizWest—Infleqtion, a CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï spinout, announced it has been awarded three projects by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate American scientific research and innovation for the Genesis Mission. The projects include collaboration with CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï and span AI-optimized quantum circuit design for nuclear applications, deployable atomic quantum sensing with Agentic AI and nuclear fusion energy research.
Nvidia-backed Ayar Labs raises $500 million at $3.75 billion valuation
Reuters—Ayar Labs, a CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï spinout that develops chips that transmit data using light, said on Tuesday ‌it has raised $500 million in a Series E round at a valuation of $3.75 billion. The latest round brings the company's ​total funding to $870 million
Colorado BioScience Association announces eight CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï companies will present at 2026 Rocky Mountain Life Sciences Investor & Partnering Conference
Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA)—The presenting companies selected for the 2026 Rocky Mountain Life Sciences Investor & Partnering Conference feature close to 50 companies from Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West, including eight from CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï.
Eight CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï researchers and four startups receive funding through Colorado’s Advanced Industries Accelerator
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) has announced that eight CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï researchers and four startups received funding through the latest round of the Advanced Industries Accelerator Program. The awards, granted through the Proof of Concept and Early-Stage Capital and Retention programs, represent one of the university's strongest performances to date.
Activate welcomes two CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï-connected startups to its Cohort 2026
Activate—50 scientist-innovators will join Cohort 2026. The 41 companies they're building span 22 cities and 11 states across the U.S., and include two startups with ties to CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï: Mach Electric and Brint Tech.
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï innovators admitted to the Equalize 2026 Cohort
Established in 2020, Equalize Startups is a nonprofit program taking national action on the disparity in women academic inventors forming startups from non-profit research institutions. Innovators with ties to CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï will participate in the 2026 cohort.
Investment Opportunities: University Startups Seeking Funding
View the Startup PortfolioUniversity Startup Pipeline News
Venture Partners releases 2026 Annual Report
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï had another tremendous year of commercialization activity. In Fiscal Year 2025, Venture Partners advanced 188 innovations and helped launch 23 startups based on university discoveries. These ventures spanned the breadth of CU's research expertise, with innovations in sustainability, biosciences, quantum and more.
2026 Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase highlights CU’s next breakthrough startups
Venture Partners capped off its fifth Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator with the 2026 Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase, where research-based startup teams pitched innovations originating from CU to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs and fellow researchers. The showcase featured ventures developing breakthrough solutions in health, robotics, advanced materials and more.
Innovative ideas and founder spirit ride high at the 2026 NVC Finals
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative—The 2026 New Venture Challenge (NVC) culminated in a final showcase on April 22 with a live audience cheering on CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï’s next exciting innovations. Six ventures competed for $336,000 at the event filled with big ideas, entrepreneurial passion and record-setting prize money.
Thank you, Susan Strong—and happy retirement
Susan Strong has made lasting impacts across CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï and the larger Colorado innovation ecosystem.
Could 3D-printed livers make transplant lists a thing of the past?
CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï Today—Supported by a new five-year, up to $25 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Personalized Regenerative Immunocompetent Nanotechnology Tissue (PRINT) program, a team of CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï, MIT, Harvard and Columbia researchers is working to develop 3D-printed liver tissue made of human cells and able to be transplanted into anyone without their body rejecting it.








